Click here to see "which Sunday" it is (The Proper of Seasons for the Latin Mass).

Saturday, November 17, 2007

A Stunner Out Of BritainThis is a 100% MUST READ!

The good ship USS 21st Century Catholic Counter-Reformation is well under way and under full sail. Cap'n Benedict has already announced over the 1MC that rough seas are ahead, but stout hearts and a firm resolve will get us through the gales that already trying to knock us off our course.

OK, enough of the squid-speak. You've got to read this article. Sheesh... when even the secular media recognizes the outright mutiny taking place in our Church, that might give the rest of us a real reason to look upon some our more "progressive leaders" a look with more than just a jaundiced eye.

From The Telegraph (Great Britain), here are a few paragraphs; (emphasis mine)

The 80-year-old Pontiff is planning a purification of the Roman liturgy in which decades of trendy innovations will be swept away. This recovery of the sacred is intended to draw Catholics closer to the Orthodox and ultimately to heal the 1,000 year Great Schism. But it is also designed to attract vast numbers of conservative Anglicans, who will be offered the protection of the Holy Father if they covert en masse. The liberal cardinals don't like the sound of it at all.

Ever since the shock of Benedict's election, they have been waiting for him to show his hand. Now that he has, the resistance has begun in earnest - and the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, is in the thick of it.

"Pope Benedict is isolated," I was told when I visited Rome last week. "So many people, even in the Vatican, oppose him, and he feels the strain immensely." Yet he is ploughing ahead. He reminds me of another conservative revolutionary, Margaret Thatcher, who waited a couple of years before taking on the Cabinet "wets" sabotaging her reforms.

Benedict's pontificate moved into a new phase on July 7, with the publication of his apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum. With a stroke of his pen, the Pope restored the traditional Latin Mass - in effect banned for 40 years - to parity with the modern liturgy. Shortly afterwards, he replaced Archbishop Piero Marini, the papal Master of Ceremonies who turned many of John Paul II's Masses into politically correct carnivals.

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor was most displeased. Last week, he hit back with a "commentary" on Summorum Pontificum. According to Murphy-O'Connor, the ruling leaves the power of local bishops untouched. In fact, it removes the bishops' power to block the ancient liturgy. In other words, the cardinal - who tried to stop Benedict issuing the ruling - is misrepresenting its contents.

Alas, he is not alone: dozens of bishops in Britain, Europe and America have tried the same trick. Murphy-O'Connor's "commentary" was modelled on equally dire "guidelines" written by Bishop Arthur Roche of Leeds with the apparent purpose of discouraging the faithful from exercising their new rights.

A few years ago the ploy might have worked. But news travels fast in the traditionalist blogosphere, and these tactics have been brought to the attention of papal advisers.

This month, Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, a senior Vatican official close to Benedict, declared that "bishops and even cardinals" who misrepresented Summorum Pontificum were "in rebellion against the Pope".

Ranjith is tipped to become the next Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, in charge of regulating worldwide liturgy. That makes sense: if Benedict is moving into a higher gear, then he needs street fighters in high office.

The liberation of the Latin liturgy, the rapprochement with Eastern Orthodoxy, the absorption of former Anglicans - all these ambitions reflect Benedict's conviction that the Catholic Church must rediscover the liturgical treasure of Christian history to perform its most important task: worshipping God.

This conviction is shared by growing numbers of young Catholics, but not by the church politicians who have dominated the hierarchies of Europe for too long.

By failing to welcome the latest papal initiatives - or even to display any interest in them, beyond the narrow question of how their power is affected - the bishops of England and Wales have confirmed Benedict's low opinion of them.

Now he should replace them. If the Catholic reformation is to start anywhere, it might as well be here.

8 Comments:

We're living in a time of unprecedented ecumenical possibilities--both the Traditional Anglican Communion, and the Orthodox churches are closing with Rome.

Yet we are also living in a time of incipient Schism--the Modernist schism is under way, and eventually it will reach a point where bishops will be suspended and deposed, and provinces with wealth will be poor, because schismatic bishops will have the sympathy of the courts and press.

And from that, the Church will stand stringer, leaner, and more militant than in many generations.

If the Church were an Army, it would work out that His Holiness was getting it free of the Legs, Parade Ground Soldiers and place holders, to prepare it for battle.

Heh--Fix...Bayonettes! We'll have to fight hard to preserve ourselves in many dioceses so Our Lady of Akita, Pray for US!St. Magnus the Centurian, Pray for UsOur Lady of Victory, Pray for Us!

Thanks for the post. My husband (Fighting Irish Thomas) recently wrote on Pope Benedict's planned spring trip to the U.S. and I liked his ending line very much! I see that you are an Irish fan and I've read about their having Latin Mass on campus now. In fact, I quoted a student from Notre Dame regarding the Latin Mass and his blog disappeared after that. It was called "Left Untitled" if you happen to know him or where his blog went to. He had some VERY good stuff on it. We started quoting and linking to you a number of weeks ago and I hope you are receiving a few visitors from us. Your posts and blog are wonderful. I'm looking forward to the indulgence. Anyway, I'm going to grab the link from this story to post on our blog and go get ready to join my husband and his father watch the 1-9 Irish play some ball. (I see you do not allow anonymous comments, so this is going to come up on Tom's name and picture, but it's from the "submissive" wife.

If I recall it correctly, Murphy-O'Connor and at least one other Brit bishop are eligible or close to retirement age. May His Holiness accept their retirements soon and appoint some leaders loyal to him, the Vicar of Christ, and the Church.

"The 80-year-old Pontiff is planning a purification of the Roman liturgy in which decades of trendy innovations will be swept away." THANK YOU LORD! THANK YOU! I BOW AND SCRAPE BEFORE THE MIGHTY BENEDICT!! (not in worship but in thanksgiving for hi3 having brass...guts...)

"The liberal cardinals don't like the sound of it at all." THOSE LIMP-WRISTED NINNIES CAN WALK THE PLANK! TODAY!

"Pope Benedict is isolated," I was told when I visited Rome last week. "So many people, even in the Vatican, oppose him, and he feels the strain immensely." OH BOO HOO! I JUST BET THE HOLY FATHER IS SITTING IN A BIG CIRCLE RIGHT NOW WHINING ABOUT HIS POOR WIDDLE FEELINGS BEING HURT! "No one LIKES me, God! Can I cry? Will someone hold me?" ISOLATION IS GOOD! IT MAKES YOU FOCUS ON GOD! SOMETHING YOU HAND-HOLDING (limply of course) LIBERALS WOULDN'T KNOW ABOUT WITH ALL YOUR ECUMANISM AND COMMUNITY FOCUSED CHRISTLESS BLADDY BLAH! I am woman, HEAR ME ROAR!!! (At Liberals...)

"Shortly afterwards, he replaced Archbishop Piero Marini, the papal Master of Ceremonies who turned many of John Paul II's Masses into politically correct carnivals." BURN HIM AT THE STAKE BABY! ER...I MEAN HOLY FATHER! YEAH HOLY FATHER, CALL ME A NARROW MINDED BIGOT BUT I THINK YOU SHOULD CALL AN INQUISITION!!!! THAT'LL CLEAR THE LIBERALS OUT LIKE FLEAS OFF A FOX'S HIDE! RUN FORREST...RUN...

"Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor was most displeased.." THAT'S OK CARDINAL - WE SAVED YOU A SPOT IN THE FEELINGS CIRCLE. YOU CAN GO CRY NOW.

Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith...IS MY NEW SUPER HERO! QUICK, SOMEONE WRITE AN ICON OF THS MAN! (I would but I can only draw stick figures...)

"...the absorption of former Anglicans..." THAT'S USUALLY WHAT A HEALTHY BODY DOES WITH A DISEASE LURKING WITHIN...ABSORB AWAY, OH HOLY MAMMA CHURCH!! POPE BENEDICT IS MAKING YOU HEALTHY AGAIN!

"This conviction is shared by growing numbers of young Catholics, but not by the church politicians who have dominated the hierarchies of Europe for too long." THAT'S OK! THEY'RE GETTING OLD - WE'LL KNOCK THEIR CANES OUT OF THEIR HANDS AND TAKE OVER BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!